HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Human rights in post-disaster and post-conflict situations

At its twenty-second session, the Council adopted resolution 22/16 (A/HRC/RES/22/16) on the protection of human rights in post-disaster/post-conflict situations, which takes note of the research proposals made to the Human Rights Council by the Advisory Committee in its decision 9/1 of 10 August 2012 and requests the Advisory Committee to:

1. to prepare, within existing resources, a research-based report on best practices and main challenges in the promotion and protection of human rights in post-disaster/post-conflict situations, with a focus on the human rights mainstreaming in relief, recovery and reconstruction efforts, to be presented to the Human Rights Council at its 28th session;

2. to seek the views and inputs of member States, relevant international organizations, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, relevant United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, such as UNISDR, UNICEF, UNDP and UNFPA, relevant Human Rights special procedures, as well as agencies and organizations which work in post-disaster/post-conflict situations, and civil society representatives, in order to prepare the above mentioned research-based report; and

3. to present a progress report of the requested research-based report, to the Human Rights Council at its 26th session, for the Council’s consideration.

At its eleventh session in August 2013, the Advisory Committee established a drafting group tasked with the drafting of the report and designated the following experts as members of the drafting group: Mr. Latif Hüseynov, Ms. Katharina Pabel, Ms. Cecilia Rachel V. Quisumbing (Rapporteur), Ms. Anantonia Reyes Prado (Chairperson) and Mr. Imeru Tamrat Yigezu, as well as Ms. Chung Chinsung and Mr. Vladimir Kartashkin, whose term ended on 30 September 2013. Subsequently, Mr. Mikhail Lebedev and Mr. Ahmer Bilal Soofi also joined the drafting group.

In line with Council resolution 22/16, requesting the Committee to seek the views and inputs of different stakeholders, the following questionnaires were prepared and disseminated by the Committee in September 2013:

At its twelfth session in February 2014, the Committee decided to appoint Ms. Anantonia Reyes Prado as Rapporteur and Mr. Latif Hüseynov as Chairperson of the drafting group. The Committee also decided to recommend to the Human Rights Council that it extend the time schedule envisaged to allow for better informed work by re-circulating the questionnaires to seek the views and inputs of the various stakeholders, and that the Advisory Committee be requested to submit its progress report to the Council at its twenty-seventh session and a final report at its twenty-eighth session.

At its twenty-sixth session in June 2014, the Council acceded to the Committee’s request and by its decision 26/116 (A/HRC/DEC/26/116) extended the time for presentation of the progress and final reports. The progress report was accordingly submitted to the twenty-seventh session of the Council in September 2014 (A/HRC/27/57) .

At its thirteenth session, Ms. Karla Hananía de Varela joined the drafting group and Mr. Ahmer Bilal Soofi was designated to replace Mr. Hüseynov as Chairperson of the drafting group. The Committee also requested the drafting group to finalize its report to the Council in the light of discussion held by the Advisory Committee during that session. The drafting group therefore finalized its report (A/HRC/28/76), which was submitted to the twenty-eighth session of the Human Rights Council.